People who stammer should have realistic dreams when it comes to employment, says Jim Day.

I spent 10 years as a consultant on human resource and organisational development. That means talking on the phone, selling projects to clients (one of my all time least favourite activities!), giving presentations, leading training classes, meeting with senior executives; all of which were a challenge for my fluency. I generally try to focus on the content of what I'm saying instead of obsessing on fluency.

As a consultant, my ability to impress clients and sell work has been hampered by my speech. In job interviews, I've tried acknowledging my stuttering up front. I've found that doing so at least gives the interviewer an idea of what is going on. They tend to be a lot more accommodating on the surface. However, I think in the back of their mind they are saying, "No way I'm going to hire this guy!" At least, I haven't seen any follow up interviews from those times I've acknowledged my stuttering.

My conclusion after one and a half years of job interviews and a decade of work experience is that people do discriminate on the basis of fluency. And frankly, I don't blame them. If I were hiring someone into a position involving a lot of speaking, given equal credentials I would probably go with the fluent speaker. And I stutter!

I certainly have empathy for others in my situation, and wouldn't hold it against them in making a hiring decision. I know many stutterers who are better communicators than people who are consistently fluent. At the same time, I think stuttering can impact a person's effectiveness in certain lines of work. In some cases that is due to the nature of the job itself. In other cases, the limitation stems from the ignorance and negative reactions of others.

As I understand the Americans with Disabilities Act 1990, we cannot discriminate on the basis of a disability in hiring practices, unless the disability relates to a core function of the job and the employer has made reasonable accommodation for that disability.

Yes, we can try to educate the public on what stuttering is all about, but people are still human and will sometimes react negatively to a serious stammer. Those negative reactions can reduce one's effectiveness in a job which depends on getting positive reactions from others.

I take the euphemism that 'stutterers can do anything they want' with a grain of salt. While I don't think stuttering should keep us from realizing our dreams, at the same time I try to be realistic about what my dreams include.

You can follow this discussion on the Stutt-L website if you are a member: http://listserv.temple.edu/archives/stutt-l.html. Joining instructions are on that page. The above is from 'Oral communication careers', early May 2003.

From the Summer 2003 edition of Speaking Out

See also:
Reviewing the DDA - on UK legislation
Employment index page